Cost delays overpass construction in Fort Collins

After initial costs came in high, city staff takes the Mason Corridor pedestrian overpass back to the drawing board, pushing its construction into 2013.

Nov. 28, 2012

Bicyclists ride past a recently repaired section of a fence separating the Mason Trail from the BNSF railroad road tracks and the Whole Foods shopping plaza. Every few months, the fence is cut by people who want to take an illegal shortcut across the tracks. By this time next year, city officials hope to have completed a pedestrian overpass in the area. / Trevor Hughes/The Coloradoan

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A sign warns pedestrians against illegally crossing the BNSF Railway tracks between the Mason Trail and the Whole Foods shopping center. A new overpass set to open a year from now will help people cross the tracks safely. / Trevor Hughes/The Coloradoan

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Construction of an overpass aimed at helping employees at CSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital and the nearby federal buildings cross over the railroad tracks to Whole Foods and nearby shopping has been pushed back a year.

The overpass was supposed to open by now, helping workers avoid trespassing across the BNSF tracks by cutting through the fence blocking the tracks along the Mason Trail. But when cost estimates came in far higher than expected, city planners headed back to the drawing board.

“This thing is not gold-plated by any means. It’s a pretty basic bridge with ramps or elevators,” said Rick Richter, the interim city engineer.

The approximately $2.75 million overpass is part of the Mason Corridor project, which will bring a special high-frequency bus service along the city’s spine, from south Fort Collins up through Old Town.

MAX, as the bus rapid-transit system is known, will have a stop serving the federal buildings west of the railroad tracks and the Whole Foods/King Soopers plaza to the east. The original overpass plan for the station called for elevators, but officials are now asking contractors how much it would cost to build a simpler overpass with ramps.

Richter said the city prefers to install underpasses in most cases, but said utilities and an irrigation ditch in the area made an underpass impractically expensive. Richter said the redesigned overpass will be open next fall, several months before MAX begins service in early 2014.

Today, about 3,000 people work at the federal buildings west of the railroad tracks and off Centre Avenue, but that number is expected to rise to about 5,000 in the coming decades, Richter said. He said CSU has also had preliminary discussions about building a parking garage in the area. CSU owns the land the federal buildings sit on, along with the nearby Veterinary Teaching Hospital and associated facilities.